My name is George. I’m unemployed and I live with my parents.

I feel like I could go back to bed and sleep for hours. I did sleep last night, but it wasn’t good sleep. I lay down unusually early (around midnight). I awoke at 3:42 AM, to see how much time I had before my cat got hungry. I decided it wasn’t enough time to bother going back to sleep. Soon after, Amelia Bedelia came tearing into the room at top speed. She has a new trick where she stands beside me, leans over, and without bending her legs, plops on top of me like I’m her personal ball pit. Upon impact, she makes a high pitched little grunt sound, then looks at me. It cracks me up every time.

My new Yamaha 12″ textured silicon snare arrived yesterday. It feels huge to me as my toms are 3 x 8″ and the 10″ pad I constructed. I’m so in love with my drum kit now. (I know! I should totally marry it!) I put the new snare on a PDP chrome snare stand I got from Musicians Friend. It was the cheapest one from a familiar brand. It’s too high, but I just raised my throne. It pinched my fingers when I set it up. It hurt so badly I couldn’t even swear at first, but it was just a flesh wound. 😂 The Yamaha DTX 502 drum module has training tools and built-in songs of various music genres. The first time I tested my timing, I got a 62 out of 100. Naturally, I continued testing until I got a 97, (ego sufficiently stroked.)

My issue is my hi-hat. I’m having trouble positioning it correctly. (I should suck it up and buy the proper hi-hat/pedal.) I love the look and shape of the curved tubes, but adjusting them is difficult. I put just my hi-hat and module on the left arm. I’m researching a laptop mount. My crash and ride are posts-mounted. I should have gotten bigger cymbals. I got all 10″ 3-zone cymbals. They’ll do. The rim trigger is spotty, though. Fortunately, at my skill level, this matters not. I still haven’t RTFM for the module. Several reviews claimed you had to read it to set up non-Yamaha triggers. (False.)

I did notice a few who said it was too complex and they returned it. My Alesis dual trigger 8″ mesh toms were plug and play. The mesh pad I constructed was plug and play as a single trigger pad. I ordered a splitter to make it dual. Yamaha is brilliant for selling this module at such an incredibly low price ($269). The comparable Roland module costs double. Both Yamaha and Roland use proprietary equipment, which irks me, but they also both justify it with excellence. I discovered I can jump up to the next level Yamaha module for $599 (if I ever find it necessary, which is hard to imagine now.)

The price for the same American module (warranty) is $799. If I buy it directly from Japan (no warranty), it’s $599. I can’t read Japanese, but I don’t see myself reading the fucking manual anyway. So 1980’s. I just type my question into a browser and find all sorts of people who wondered the same thing on forums. Some of whom RTFM. Some individuals enjoy sharing this information online, and others enjoy reading it. A good time for all and fewer dead trees. (I know, but it sounds good.)

I sold my big ass TV on Craigslist. It’s one of the perks of living in South Dakota. Craigslist works better than eBay in smallish towns. (You’re far less likely to get ripped off by someone when you can take umbrage in person, I suppose.) I loved the TV; I just didn’t think ahead when I bought it four years ago. I don’t like owning things I can’t move. It was too big (55″). I ordered a smaller (49″) replacement through MassDrop. It’s a crowdsourcing site, which means I got a good deal, but it won’t arrive anytime soon. They estimate shipping on May 29th. Having ordered lots of quilting and mechanical keyboard supplies in the past, I estimate mid-June. I propped a canvas of my artwork on the TV stand in the meantime.

I have a hard time watching movies on giant screens. It’s overstimulating. My 5.1 surround sound has triggered more than one panic attack, as well. Hearing shit going on behind me when I’m home alone is not cool. It’s rare I can tolerate things with suspense. It bothers me how much media I have to avoid. I love movies like Minority Report and The Matrix. I would like to watch Gattaca right now. I love so many films I rarely have the stamina to watch. At least I’m okay with comedies and animation. I think I’m going to watch My Neighbor Totoro. I’ve been helping a friend unload her Uhaul and it’s hot outside. I need to be still for a while so my body can figure out I’m not doing heavy labor anymore (before I start hurling.) I’ll try photographing my kit later. Just a reminder: I suck at photography. (Didn’t RTFM.)